1. A Qualitative Study on Perceived Individual and Relational Consequences of Sexual Compliance and Their Predictors
- Author
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Annika Gunst, Katarina Alanko, Sabina Nickull, Marieke Dewitte, Marianne Källström, Jan Antfolk, and patrick jern
- Abstract
Sexual compliance (i.e., voluntarily engaging in sex despite a lack of sexual desire) is common in committed intimate relationships, but the consequences of compliance for the well-being of the individual and the relationship are poorly understood. We investigated the perceived consequences of sexual compliance and possible factors contributing to negative/positive consequences by applying reflexive thematic analysis on free-text retrospective survey responses from 107 (mostly) Finnish adults from different demographical backgrounds. We identified five themes of personal consequences (emotions and mood, sexual experience, sexual desire, pressure and violations, and physical pain), four themes of relational consequences (relationship satisfaction, value alignment, partner’s response, and relationship interaction), and nine possible factors contributing to negative/positive consequences (communication, self-esteem, motives for sex, agency and self-knowledge, relationship factors, mental health and stress, societal norms, psychological flexibility, and past negative experiences). The perceived consequences varied greatly between individuals, both in terms of experiencing any positive or negative consequences and in terms of whether compliance was perceived as improving or worsening specific domains of well-being. We discuss the identified themes in relation to previous theories on sexuality and intimate relationships and provide hypotheses that can be tested in future quantitative studies.
- Published
- 2023